iHV welcomes report: The maternal mental health experiences of young mums

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance have, today, launched a new briefing exploring the mental health experiences of young mums.

Findings from a rapid review of the literature and focus groups with young mums from across the UK show that young mums aged 16-25 are at higher risk of experiencing mental health problems during pregnancy and after birth and face significant barriers in accessing support. Where they do access support, experiences of services can be poor.

Based on feedback received from young mothers, this briefing identifies 4 priority areas for action:

Listen and respond to the needs of young mothers in national and local systems
Resource and invest in universal and preventative services
Ensure access to specialist mental health services
Research and listen to the voices of young mums

An infographic depicting a ‘Dream City of Support’ informed by focus group discussions with young mums identifies health visitors as part of a range of services they would like to see in place. The briefing highlights the skilled, preventative work that health visitors offer and aligns with existing evidence that health visitors, when adequately resourced and trained, can provide clinically and cost-effective perinatal mental health care. However, the drastic reduction in the health visitor workforce over recent years means urgent action is needed to ensure that all families, and particularly those facing multiple disadvantage, are able to quickly access the right support.

Hilda Beauchamp, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Lead at iHV, said:

“We welcome this timely report highlighting areas for action to improve services for young mums. We know that young mums are so much more likely to experience shame, stigma and judgment and that this can significantly impact their mental health. The rise in teenage maternal suicide rates highlighted in the recent MBRRACE report was sobering.

“At the iHV, we are fully supportive of the coalition’s recommendation to conduct an in-depth review of the circumstances surrounding these deaths. Currently health visitor records are not routinely examined as part of the Confidential Enquiry review process. Health visitors are the only health professionals that proactively and systematically reach all families with babies and young children throughout the perinatal period, including young mums. We would recommend consideration of the contribution that health visitors can make to the MBRRACE process to fully understand where change can be made in the provision of services across the whole pathway of care.”

Becoming a parent is challenging at any age, but many young mums experience additional difficulties such as experiences of care, isolation and loneliness, housing difficulties, poverty and employment discrimination, that contribute to poor mental health. Learning from best practice examples of holistic support for young mums across the UK is included in this briefing, adding weight to the recommendations for further work and research, including action required in the devolved nations.

The iHV fully supports the report’s concluding statement that:

For too long, young mums’ needs and views have been ignored. It is time their experiences were listened to, and their needs centred in the planning of perinatal mental health support.

Download full report: The maternal
mental health experiences of young mums

Download summary briefing: The maternal
mental health experiences of young mums

Maternal Mental Health Alliance launches briefing to support Integrated Care Systems

Mental health problems during pregnancy or after giving birth are common. There can be poor long-term outcomes for parents and families without timely access to effective support and treatment. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) has today, launched a briefing to support Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England to make the most of their unique position, to ensure that all families who need support for their mental health in the perinatal period get the right level of help, at the right time, close to home.

Integrated care boards and partnerships have a statutory role in population health management. They bring together the NHS, local government, public services and civil society organisations, to explore how to improve health, reduce health inequalities and use public money wisely in the local context. Addressing mental health and wellbeing needs in the perinatal period provides ICSs with a unique opportunity to take a systemic approach in establishing good building blocks for health, for future generations.

The MMHA commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to produce a briefing to support ICSs to consider how best support can be offered. This builds on earlier work co-produced by the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and The MMHA to guide system’s thinking on perinatal mental health and how best practice can be further embedded (read our previous news story on this here).

The briefing encourages proactive leadership within the ICS system to ensure effective support for groups of women whose needs are less well met by existing services, including those from racialised communities, asylum seekers and refugees, single mothers, young mothers, those living in poverty or experiencing domestic abuse, LGBTQ+ parents, neurodiverse and disabled people, those who are care-experienced and those experiencing multiple adversities such as addiction, homelessness and exploitation.

Key areas for action are identified including, for universal services, the recommendation for midwives, GPs, and health visitors to ask about a woman’s mental health at all routine antenatal and postnatal appointments, as per national guidelines. Previous evidence supporting integrated mental health care with maternity and health visiting services, as both clinically effective and cost-effective, is highlighted. This proposed integrated service provision model would offer the following key support elements:

Screening: Asking every woman in a skilled way about their mental health to identify need
Assessment: Assessing the severity of women’s mental health needs and planning the most appropriate treatment in partnership with the individual
Treatment: Offering low-intensity treatments for common mental health problems
Coordination: Ensuring women receive ‘joined-up’ care and subsequent care and support as needed.

Hilda Beauchamp, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Lead at iHV says:

“This important briefing highlights the unique opportunities that Integrated Care Boards and partnerships have to develop the universal workforce. When health visiting, maternity and GP services are adequately trained and resourced, families can be offered early, effective tailored support that can prevent problems developing or worsening.”

Further actions are included specific to NHS talking therapies, Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services, Inpatient Services and Voluntary and Community Sector Support.

The briefing will be shared with all ICSs and we encourage you to draw attention to the publication through your local contacts and communications.

View 'Maternal Mental Health - a briefing for Integrated Care Systems'

iHV welcomes latest MMHA briefing on the state of PMH services across the UK

iHV welcomes the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA)’s latest briefing on specialist perinatal mental health (PMH) community services in the UK which highlights the significant progress made in all four nations since 2013. The latest MMHA maps offer a snapshot of the state of UK specialist PMH care in 2023 and evidences significant ongoing workforce challenges and the postcode lottery that families face in accessing specialist PMH care.

Though the progress is fantastic, the updated maps in the report show that inequalities continue – access to life-saving mental healthcare for pregnant women and new mothers remains inequitable, with many regions still lacking the necessary resources. Mental health-related deaths during pregnancy or up to six weeks after birth are increasing – and it is particularly significant to health visitors that even more women died in the period between six weeks and a year after the end of pregnancy – emphasising the urgency of addressing this issue.

The previous PMH maps, shared as part of the “Everyone’s Business Campaign”, mapped services against the quality standards created by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Perinatal Quality Network and led to a collective ambition to “#TurnTheMapGreen”. Since then, there has been rapid expansion and much needed progress in specialist PMH services across the UK. As a result of the pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, widening inequalities and global instability, there has been major challenge to family mental health and wellbeing, and need has soared. These new updated maps are intended to ensure progress in specialist PMH provision is sustained and progressed.

Alongside updating the maps, the MMHA also conducted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to gain better understanding of funding for specialist PMH community services across the UK and to picture how services in England are meeting the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan for PMH. The FOI found that, although 89% of the 70 areas that responded had seen their budget increase from 2020/1 to 2022/3, 66% indicated there would be an underspend for 2022/3. Workforce-related issues were the most frequently cited reason for underspending (58% of respondents), but many teams provided evidence indicating this was due to unclear or late budget allocation, with no guarantee of continuation. This is inevitably resulting in women, babies, and families not receiving the care they need.

The most recent iHV annual survey also confirmed that families are facing a postcode lottery in universal services. This new briefing by the MMHA makes a clear statement on the importance of joined up integrated care across the system to address these inequities in service provision and focus efforts on addressing the stark health inequalities, particularly for black and brown women and those living with severe and multiple disadvantage.

The MMHA briefing acknowledges that health visiting is an essential part of the PMH system and that specialist PMH teams alone cannot meet the needs of most families, who in the main, will be seen and cared for in universal services. The briefing calls for proper resourcing for all the essential services needed to deliver high-quality care.

Melita Graham, iHV Head of Mental Health, said:

“At the moment, too many families are still facing a postcode lottery and not receiving the care that they need as services struggle to prevent and identify cases of perinatal mental illness and facilitate and offer treatment to meet the scale of need. The role of health visitors needs to be maximised as an important part of the solution. When adequately resourced, health visitors can make a significant contribution to the timely identification of perinatal mental health problems and risks in the community, as well as reducing the burden on primary care and specialist teams through their work in prevention and early intervention.

“Strong local leadership is important for maximising the HV contribution and to join the junctions between services. Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health are therefore a crucial element of an integrated PIMH care system. Through their leadership role, they have the potential to drive clinically and cost-effective high-quality evidence-based PIMH care across the whole system. As part of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, the Institute was delighted to share our own maps of such a vital part of the system in our latest report: Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health: where they are and what they’re doing.”

All families want and deserve high-quality and joined up care for their mental health. The latest MMHA maps offer key stakeholders good intelligence on their relative performance and provide a sound base for services and systems to build and progress from. It is crucial that momentum is maintained and Government commitments to improving specialist PMH are fulfilled. The iHV is committed to continue working alongside the MMHA to make sure that there is a confident, well-equipped system delivering excellent, compassionate, safe care for all families across all four nations of the UK.

3 ways to help #TurnTheMapGreen

Download and share MMHA maps with your networks
Tweet about the maps using #TurnTheMapGreen
Talk about the maps with those in a position to help change them

Let’s end the postcode lottery, together!

Go to iHV report - Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health: where they are and what they’re doing

Go to MMHA briefing - Specialist perinatal mental health care in the UK 2023

Go to MMHA Executive Summary

Go to MMHA Campaign to find out more

New resource to Support High-Quality Perinatal Mental Health Care

iHV and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) are proud to share a new resource and accompanying evidence to support high-quality Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) Care.

The Institute has worked closely with the MMHA for many years to bring about positive change for the mental health and wellbeing of families and there have been huge strides made, but there is still some way to go:

At least 1 in 5 women experience a PMH problem, making mental illness the most common serious health problem that a woman might experience in the perinatal period.
Suicide is still the leading cause of death for women when looking across the perinatal period.
The 2022 MBRRACE report again highlighted gaps in mortality rates between women from deprived and affluent areas, women of different ages, and women from different ethnic groups.
Evidence continues to show that people, who identify as LGBTQI+, experience prejudice and discrimination generally and within healthcare services which can lead to worse physical and mental health in the perinatal period.

This latest project brought us together to think about how we can support developing PMH systems across all four nations. The changing landscape of how care is accessed and delivered offers an opportunity for systems to come together to support inclusive high quality family mental health care and this is what led to the latest collaboration between the iHV and MMHA. It has led to the iHV undertaking an evidence review, which we feel will be incredibly useful for families, practitioners and services.

The Evidence Review, conducted by the iHV, is is a comprehensive desktop review that brings together key publications, policy guidance, toolkits, research, and reports of families’ and practitioners’ lived experiences. The focus of the review is “what does high-quality perinatal mental health care look like?” for women, birthing people and their families. Key themes and principles emerging from the evidence review are captured in the related resource:

Supporting High-Quality Perinatal Mental Health Care is the new resource drawn from the Evidence Review. It provides a strengths-based action template to enable and inform high-quality care for families impacted by PMH problems – enabling individuals to come together and plan “what good looks like” for them, as practitioners, services, professions, organisations, pathways, networks, and systems. This new resource highlights:

Why improving PMH care is crucial
What good care looks like to both practitioners and families with lived experience
10 principles of best practice

Read MMHA's news story on the launch of these resources

Karen Middleton, Head of Campaigns and Policy, MMHA, says:

“The iHV’s literature review has been incredibly helpful to understand the wealth of information out there on maternal mental health and what action is still needed to ensure high-quality care is available to all who need it. During the review, several recurring themes quickly emerged as well as clear opportunities for learning across the system, as highlighted in the final resource.

“In recent years, there has been a welcome increase in the understanding of the impact of maternal mental health problems. However, many still face huge barriers to accessing essential care. I hope this work will encourage local systems to have collaborative conversations and help them continue to develop services that provide high-quality maternal mental health support for women and birthing people, babies, and families across the UK.”

Melita Graham, Head of Mental Health, iHV, says:

“Family mental health and wellbeing is complex and, whilst individuals, different professions and services can, and do, make a huge difference – we know that by joining the junctions and pulling together we can achieve so much more. Working closely with the Alliance I have seen the power of collective effort and the positive differences this has made. This latest project aims to support all parts of the PMH system to come together, to think together and to act together – we know that when people with a common interest come together, great things can happen!

“The Institute is committed to promoting family mental health and wellbeing, addressing inequalities and driving change. Alongside the MMHA and other partners, we won’t stop until every family, has access to high quality mental health care in the perinatal period. We very much hope that these new resources will enable high quality perinatal mental care irrespective of where a family may live in the UK.”

Download Supporting High-Quality Perinatal Mental Health Care Resource

Download Evidence Review - Supporting High-Quality Perinatal Mental Health Care: What does good look like?

iHV welcomes new MMHA economic research report

iHV welcomes new Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) economic research report which shows that health visiting has a clinically effective and cost-effective role in perinatal mental health care: The economic case for increasing access to treatment for women with common mental health problems during the perinatal period.

Independent research commissioned by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA), conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), estimates the costs and benefits of addressing unmet maternal mental health needs.
The report presents the clear economic benefits from training midwives and health visitors in perinatal mental health and enabling their work with pregnant and postnatal women.
Changes to standard practice could have a net economic benefit of £490 million over ten years; £52 million in NHS savings and quality of life improvements worth £437 million
Universal services such as health visiting and midwifery have a clinically effective and cost-effective role in perinatal mental health care, identifying women in need or at risk, and facilitating access to or providing treatment as part of their routine work with women during and after pregnancy.
The report recommends scaling-up integrated provision across the UK as both desirable and viable from an economic perspective.

In a new study commissioned by the MMHA, researchers from LSE evaluated the economic viability of reforming current treatment for pregnant and postnatal women experiencing common maternal mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

The report, ‘The economic case for increasing access to treatment for women with common mental health problems during the perinatal period’, estimates the costs and benefits of a model of care which could give women’s mental health the same priority as their physical health. The model, which focuses on the essential role of midwives and health visitors, would allow for women’s mental wellbeing to be accurately assessed at every routine contact and suitable treatments to be offered.

The proposed ‘integrated model of care’ would include dedicated maternal mental health training for health visitors and midwives as well as greater collaboration with other healthcare services.

In the report, resources needed to set up and provide this model of care – namely employment and training costs – are measured against their economic return. Researchers conclude that it could lead to cost savings of £52 million for the NHS over 10 years, and improvements in women’s quality of life estimated at £437 million. In total, this is a net benefit of £490 million over 10 years.

Policy analysis by MMHA member, Centre for Mental Health, determines that equitable integrated service provision is the logical and economical next step in the evolution of perinatal mental health care in the UK. It would close a major gap and ensure women get timely access to help for their mental health needs.

Alison Morton, Executive Director iHV, said:

“Even before COVID-19, there were many system challenges to ensuring that all families had access to the right care and treatment, at the right time, for their mental health and wellbeing. Against a backdrop of rising levels of unmet need, we now need to do better. I am therefore delighted to see this robust and long-awaited research published today – it presents a sound economic case for health visiting, as an evidence-based solution to some of these challenges, with a fully costed model of care which demonstrates significant savings alongside improving the lives of families experiencing perinatal mental health problems.

“This report is a significant resource for policy makers looking to deliver the Government’s Start for Life commitment to improve parents’ access to perinatal mental health support and give every child the best start in life. With such clear evidence, it is vital that the Government acts now to strengthen the health visiting service in England as part of an effective integrated system of perinatal mental health support for families.”

Melita Walker, Head of Mental Health iHV, added:

“Mental health problems in the perinatal period are common and as all families have a health visitor, they are ideally placed to offer skilled, professional support quickly when it’s needed. However, current shortages of health visitors make that difficult, and many families are missing out on effective early help for common mental health problems.

“This new report demonstrates that health visiting has a clinically effective and cost-effective role in perinatal mental health care, identifying families at risk of or suffering from mental health problems and facilitating access to, or providing, effective evidence-based treatments as part of their routine work with women and their families during the perinatal period.

“Ensuring all health visitors have the training and time to meet women’s mental health needs is a sound investment that would make a difference to many thousands of women and their families. Furthermore, this timely new economic evidence strengthens the findings and recommendations highlighted in the latest research by Professor Jane Barlow, on the unique leadership role of Specialist Health Visitor in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health in supporting effective integrated PIMH services.”

If we are serious about using sound evidence to make the biggest difference, then going forward we need to:

Build back our health visitor numbers
Ensure all health visitors have appropriate capacity and high-quality training in family mental health
Have a Specialist PIMH Health Visitor supporting families in every Local Authority in England, every Health Board in Wales and Scotland and every Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.

Download MMHA report - The economic case for increasing access to treatment for women with common mental health problems during the perinatal period.

Download Centre for Mental Health summary of the research and analysis its implications for policy and practice - A sound investment

Download Professor Jane Barlow report - Specialist Health Visitors in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (Sp HV PIMH) Report

#MakeAllCareCount Campaign

The iHV is delighted to see the #MakeAllCareCount Campaign launched today by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA).

Melita Walker, Mental Health Lead at iHV, said:

“As long-standing active members of the Alliance it has been brilliant to work alongside the fantastic MMHA team and wider Alliance members to help shape the call for a truly integrated system of perinatal mental health care. Family mental health is complex, mental health needs are an enormous public health challenge. The Pandemic has increased the mental health risks for new parents and the already-stretched services supporting their mental health during the perinatal period, so the new focus of the MMHA campaign is needed now, more than ever”.

The #MakeAllCareCount Campaign is calling for:

All women and families across the UK to have equitable access to comprehensive, high-quality perinatal mental health (PMH) care, including and beyond specialist PMH services.

This includes:

A confident, well-equipped workforce delivering excellent, safe PMH care and support.
Care for all women, including those impacted by inequalities
Specialist PMH that meet national standards and act as a catalyst for change within the wider system of care.

Find out more about the #MakeAllCareCount Campaign

The new phase of the MMHA’s work to drive change for women and families affected by PMH problems looks at the wider system, including and beyond specialist services, and how to support maternal mental health at every opportunity.

Whilst everyone who comes into contact with women before, during or after pregnancy has the opportunity to provide mental health support, ‘Make all care count’ highlights and defines the essential services that can dramatically affect the lives of women with, or at risk of, poor maternal mental health. Each essential service in each of the sections of the interlocking wheel above can be explored.

Defining essential perinatal mental health care: health visiting

The campaign recognises the critical role that health visitors have as part of an integrated system of care in achieving good family mental health and wellbeing.

What is the role of health visiting in providing essential perinatal mental health care?

“The campaign is a great opportunity for health visitors (and our partners) to make it clear and be recognised for what we can achieve – if we are in the right numbers with the right competence and capacity.

By making certain that all care is women and family-centred, that there is a competent and confident workforce, by working together and by recognising, liberating and strengthening the unique contribution of each individual/service -we are much more able to ensure that all families across the UK have equitable access to comprehensive, high quality PMH care.”

Do join the call for ALL women and families across the UK to have equitable access to essential, high-quality perinatal mental health care and do tag us in @iHealthVisiting @MMHAlliance #MakeAllCareCount #EveryonesBusiness

New MMHA report evidences key role of HVs in addressing the increase in mental health needs of families

The iHV is delighted to have supported the launch of the new report on maternal mental health and the services that supported women and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to put on record our thanks to the Alliance for undertaking this work and creating a public opportunity today for us to come together, to think together about the findings and their important implications for families now – need is great and families can’t wait.

Today’s report brings together, for the first time, all of the available data collected during the pandemic looking at the mental health challenges that women during and after pregnancy have faced. The evidence shows a significant increase in maternal mental health problems across the UK over the last 12 months

Speaking at the launch event today, iHV Mental Health Lead, Melita Walker highlighted the important role that health visitors play in identifying and supporting families experiencing mental health challenges, saying:

“Health visitors are qualified nurses or midwives who go on to study at a specialist level in public health to become health visitors. Every family has a health visitor, and they are there to support all members of the family to enjoy good health. Health is affected by a multitude of things so health visitors may be working with families to support a very broad range of need, and those needs, left unsupported as this report shows, can actually tip families into experiencing mental health problems. Health visitors have a vital role in promoting good mental health, preventing mental health problems, identifying them early, offering evidence-based interventions and care coordination when more specialist services are needed. Family mental health and wellbeing is “the bread and butter” of health visiting.

The perinatal period is a vulnerable time for the acute onset and recurrence of mental disorders. When these vulnerabilities are combined with the impact of a pandemic, mental health problems and health inequalities are affected further. We have seen parents struggling with isolation, and sadly, we are seeing an increase in, domestic abuse, child poverty, substance misuse and child maltreatment. Rates of mental health problems are increased and inequalities are widening. The impact of lockdown has been unevenly distributed and families with lower incomes, from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and young parents are experiencing the most detrimental consequences due to compounding factors like overcrowded housing with lack of outdoor space, the effects of poverty, which all have an impact on parental stress, anxiety and predisposition to mental illness. The family centred holistic role of the health visitor cuts across and can make a difference in all of these areas- thus positively and proactively supporting good family mental health alongside a range of other health outcomes.

That said, health visitors can only make a difference if we have sufficient numbers of them and this report highlights that health visitors in England went into the pandemic in a hugely depleted state due to years of cuts to the health visiting service. The first two years of a child’s life are important, and the right support and guidance for families at this time can make a big difference to their long-term outcomes. HVs can be a lifeline for families and the iHV ‘s position from very early on in this pandemic was that there was “more than one frontline” and sustaining support for families’ needed to be a priority and that health visitors should not be redeployed.

It is important to note that many local authorities in England did not redeploy their health visitors, but 65% redeployed at least one health visitor and redeployment ranged from no health visitors being redeployed in some areas, to 63%, of the HV team being redeployed. Over 11% of local authorities lost over a quarter of their HVs. So, we can see, with redeployment rates differing substantially, young children and families’ access to health visiting services was determined by their postcode.

The iHV campaigned vigorously from the outset about redeployment and we were very relieved when England’s chief nursing officer Ruth May , Public Health England & the Local Government Authority sent a letter to all the CNOs stating that HVs provide ‘frontline’ work and should not be redeployed.

The learning we have now, and the swell of collective voices, hopefully means that we can be confident going forward in this and any future pandemic, that health visitors will remain on their own frontline. We are also very optimistic that the Leadsom review will contain some significant measures to strengthen the HV offer for families.

There has been a lot of learning from and throughout this pandemic and we must pay tribute to all the health visitors who continue to work really hard in some very challenging circumstances to find ways to stay alongside families to make sure they receive the care and support they need for their mental health. We have heard of some fantastic examples of health visitors turning to new ways of working and to get all of this up and running in the speed that they have is commendable.

Health visitors are telling us that virtual and digital help has allowed them to reach parents in the absence of being able to visit, and there may well be some of the virtual offers kept after restrictions have eased. They are also telling us very firmly, as is the emerging evidence included in this report, that virtual should not replace face to face contacts.

The research is showing us that there are significant increased MH problems in parents who have experienced becoming a parent during the pandemic. If we are to meet this need then all services need to work together as a system, and all parts of that system need to be strong.

We know a robust home visiting – health visiting service works- we need to build back our health visitor numbers because as this report shows, health visitors are a critical part of the solution for achieving good family mental health and wellbeing”.

Click here to access the new report: Maternal mental health during a pandemic

iHV welcomes MMHA’s new Chair

Luciana Berger was unanimously voted in as the new Chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) at last week’s extraordinary members’ meeting. Luciana takes over the role as Chair from Dr Alain Gregoire on 1 October 2020.

Luciana Berger

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, commented:

“This is a fabulous appointment for the MMHA and excellent news for all mums and their babies, wherever they live in the UK. Dr Alain Gregoire’s are ‘very big boots to fill’ but we feel very confident that Luciana will do that, bringing her own slant to chairing the MMHA. Very many congratulations Luciana, we very much look forward to working with you to together improve mental health services across the UK for all mums and their families.”

Other MMHA senior role updates on 1 October

Dr Alain Gregoire takes on the new role as Honorary President of the MMHA when he steps down as Chair.

Also, on the 1October, Emily Slater’s title will change from MMHA Director to CEO. This follows an independent review of MMHA’s management structure and reflects the Board’s expectations of the role as the MMHA has evolved in the last two years.

iHV proud to support launch of Perinatal Peer Support Principles

As an active member of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA), the iHV is proud to have supported the new perinatal peer support principles – launched on 3 December.

Launch of Perinatal Peer Support Principles at Peerfest on 3 December 2019

The Perinatal Peer Support Principles are a set of five values designed to give peer supporters the confidence to create and deliver peer support that meets the needs of women and families affected by mental health problems during pregnancy or the postnatal period.

The principles were co-designed by Mind, the McPin Foundation, and a team of lived experience facilitators, with support from the MMHA. They provide guidance to help ensure that peer support is safe, inclusive, and helpful, and that it meets the unique needs of mothers and babies.

Laura Wood, a mum with lived experience and one of three lived experience facilitators on this project, said:

“I hope that these principles will make safe, welcoming, nurturing peer support accessible to more mums who need it. I believe that they will, as lived experience has been at the heart of the project. Because the principles were co-created with women and families who have lived through perinatal mental health difficulties, they are shaped around their needs, not what others imagine those needs to be.”

You can access the principles, and a more detailed report, via the Maternal Mental Health Alliance website.

Read Laura's blog on what they did to develop the principles

To subscribe to the newsletter and/or enquire about hosting a workshop or event with the perinatal peer support principles, please email [email protected]

MMHA collaborates with iHV on PIMH conference #iHVPIMH19

We are delighted to announce that this year’s iHV Perinatal & Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Conference will be held in collaboration with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA). Taking place on Tuesday 10 September in London, it will focus on the importance of good relationships in perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) care.

Melita Walker, Mental Health Lead, iHV said:

“In the spirit of relationships, we are delighted to be collaborating with the MMHA to deliver the annual iHV PIMH Conference; Relationships Matter! We have a fantastic programme and we look forward to welcoming delegates to think together about the importance of relationships at every level of PIMH care.”

Together, we will share, discuss and reflect on the latest evidence, research and lived experiences in the context of relationships being fundamental to good parental and infant mental health.

The conference programme is designed to be of value to practitioners working alongside families across the care pathway, those working specifically in mental health, commissioners, local authorities and parents.

Clare Dolman, Vice Chair of the MMHA commented:

“We are delighted to collaborate with iHV on their second annual PIMH conference and look forward to welcoming delegates, hearing from those with experience of PIMH care and discussing opportunities to improve relationships and access to specialist services.”

Dr Alain Gregoire, Chair of the MMHA, will be discussing the importance of relationships in relation to policy, campaigning, practice and experience of PIMH care. There will also be a panel discussion with experts by experience hosted by MMHA’s Champion Network Manager, Maria Bavetta, about how good relationships with care providers can make a real difference to the lives of women and families.

Click here for more information, ticket costs and how to book

*Early bird rates are available until 7th July 2019, after which standard rates will apply.*

Book your place today!